Delirium

As promised, here is the video of Matthew all doped up in the hospital...

Warm Fuzzies

A few weeks ago a woman in our ward posted this story on my mom's facebook page:
"Oh my Susie I had to tell you this... So we have been praying for Matthew and I caught Gunnar saying his personal prayers and he went on and on about Mathew- here is the funny part because the sweetness part is over- he lays down to go to bed and as I am walking to my room I here him yell the power rangers theme "Go go Matthew Peters!" About 3 or 4 times ;) on a serious note we are praying for you guys and we love you all! Also your Testimony was so sweet Sunday you made me cry. You are amazing and oh how I look up to you.... And I'm done."
I love hearing stories about the little ones thinking about Matthew, and this story is awesome because Matthew was obsessed with the Power Rangers when he was a kid.

Here is the story Channel 12 did. Again, it's not completely factual, but still good:
http://bcove.me/22pykbmx

Christmas for our family was great. It was a nice, relaxing day with great food. Matthew got the ukelele he's been wanting, so now he can master it during chemo. He's been playing it a lot already and is pretty good. I think the highlight of the day was when we got to Skype Chad though. We talked to him for about an hour and a half, which was nice. He's doing really well! He has 9 baptisms so far and is getting along fine with his companion. My mom got to take a picture with all of her kids!

On a sour note...Matthew has been really sore all week. He pops Ibuprofen like candy and is always laying on a heating pad or ice pack. He has some electric massagers that my mom rubs his back and legs with too. It's hard for him to walk and get up and down. It's also hard for him to open his mouth very far, and it hurts to chew. He starts his 5th round of chemo therapy on Wednesday, so we're hoping that will get rid of his pain. His next round of chemo is only going to last three days, and the days shouldn't be as long as his past sessions. He's not so sore that he can't go out with his friends though. He goes out almost every night for movie nights, games, etc., and he has friends over a lot too.

Well that's about it for now! Besides chemo and planning a wedding, life is pretty normal. I'm glad to say that 2012 will have a happy ending for our family. It was a rocky year, but it was full of miracles, blessings and love.

I'm going to end this post with a note from my mom that she wrote like 2 months ago. I forgot to post it...sorry mom! Anyways here it is:

"I wanted to leave a message to everyone that is supporting our family, and especially my son Matthew.  It is so overwhelming to me just how many people are supporting us. We have always known what an amazing, loving and strong kid Matthew is, and it warms my heart to know that so many people know what we have always known.  All of the prayers and support from all types are so amazing to me that I don't even have the words to express them to all of you.  I love Matthew so much and will do whatever it takes to make sure that he keeps fighting and beats this horrible disease.  When he gets depressed his friends show up and brightens his day. His friends are on some days the only medicine that he needs.  

I am so grateful for living in such a great family, with such a great ward, community, and friends. I don't know what we would ever do without all of you.  I hope you all know how much you mean to our family, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving Matthew so much.  I know he will beat this because there is no other option, and he is a fighter. He is fighting to go back to school and volleyball, and going to Spain to pick up his brother Chad. 

I also want my husband kids to know how much I love them for being such amazing people.  I love Mike for being my rock, I couldn't do any of this without you.  I love Chad for being such an amazing missionary, for all of the blessings that he is bringing to our family, and for being an amazing big brother even while he is in Spain. I love Jenelle for this blog because it is such an amazing gift to all of us, and for being such a good mother to Hannah when I need to be with Matthew. I love Hannah for making good choices so that I don't have to worry about her right now. They are both great sisters to T. Of course I think you all know by now how much I love Matthew and his sense of humor through all of this, and for being such a loving son. I know that with all of you praying and fasting on behalf of Matthew he will be better in no time and ready to help the next person with their fight.  I love you all so much!  Thank You!! Susie

I hope everyone has a happy new year!

Surgery Weekend

Ok so I'm right in the middle of finals and all of that fun stuff that I love so much, so this post is going to be really short until I have more time to expound on it at the end of this week.

Friday, December 7

Matthew's surgery on Friday lasted about 3-4 hours, and it went very smoothly. The tumor is completely out and he's all wired and stitched back together.

The Layton kids sported their T Gear on the day of his surgery:

Right before the surgery:

Right after the surgery. The white bandage covers the incision, and the tube directly below that is draining all of the blood in his chest.

Jarrett put his Santa hat on him as soon as we got to the hospital.

The tumor! This thing is huge. They said before it shrunk it was the size of a cantaloupe! The surgeons took pictures of it because we asked them to. They also gave us pictures of his open chest during surgery, but my I'm not allowed to post it on the blog. It's not too gross, but some think it's too much for the blog.

 Saturday, December 8

T was feeling better and they had him siting in a chair. Later that day they had him walking.

The scar. He loves it.

Sunday, December 9

Matthew was discharged way earlier than expected. He got out around 11:00 AM and was home by 12:00. He has to carry that pillow around because if he gets up, sneezes, coughs, etc. he has to hold it against his chest. It's sort of like a shock absorber.

More details are to come later when I have time to sit and write after finals, but I hope this will suffice for now.